The present invention relates generally to user interaction of a multi-tenant database and more particularly to providing real-time experience to a user running a query of the multi-tenant database.
During computational processing it is not uncommon for the resources of a computer system to become unavailable to a user. This typically occurs upon a request by the user to have a computer system implement a task that is computationally intensive. Historically, a user has been apprised of such a situation by a busy cursor. The expressions of the busy cursor are as numerous as there are companies that produce computer programs. Early APPLE® computers used a symbol of a wristwatch, spinning beach ball and the like. MICROSOFT® employs a spinning hour glass while other companies have included a running dog, tapping fingers and the like. The busy cursors typically appears when the computation resources are performing a lengthy operation indicating that computer system is temporarily unresponsive, a state from which it may recover. The busy cursor, however, has also become indicative of the computer system entering into an unrecoverable state. The resultant ambiguity in meaning leaves a user to speculate as to whether to continue to wait for the computational resources to become available or to attempt to recover computer system operation.
Techniques have been developed to provide information to a user concerning the status of operations that render computational resources unavailable. U.S. Pat. No. 7,441,233 to Orndorff et al. discloses a system and method of providing status information about a task being processed on a computer system. The task comprises an operation that blocks user activity, such as a modal task. Status information about the task is obtained during processing of the task on an event thread of a computer system. A status display is generated based upon this status information. The task yields time on the event thread, enabling the status information to be displayed in the user interface of the computer system.
A need exists, however, to provide a user with a real-time experience of accessing computational resources of a computer system processing a computationally intensive task.